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Apple Confirms Plans to Address ‘Touch Disease’ Issues

A design flaw which leads to iPhone 6 Plus models suffering from unresponsive displays and eventual bricking has officially been recognised by Apple, with the Californian firm announcing that it will be setting up a special repair service specifically to tackle it, according to the Guardian.

In its introduction of the programme, Apple pinpointed the source of the problem as being physical impacts and pressure exerted upon the body of the iPhone 6 Plus over a protracted period. So for owners who have dropped their handset on to hard surfaces or kept it in tight trouser pockets or pressed against other objects in bags, the chances of so-called ‘touch disease’ being contracted and requiring repairs with iPhone parts are high.

The cost of Apple’s official solution is set at the equivalent of a little over £100 in the US, with customers in the UK having to wait to find out how much they will need to pay. This price is only applicable when the device is still fully functional and the display itself has not suffered any visible physical damage, meaning it will probable climb higher for those whose handsets are further down the road to total decay.

Denying claims from Apple that only iPhone handsets which have regularly been dropped are susceptible to touch disease, repairs site iFixit has repeatedly stated that it is a problem which stems from the core design of the device itself. As with ‘bend-gate’ before it, this scandal is argued to be one for which the manufacturer should take responsibility rather than something that customers will need to pay to repair out of their own pockets.

Lawsuits have been brought against Apple in the wake of the touch disease story breaking in the summer, with plaintiffs arguing that the manufacturer is actively hiding the fact that it knows about the design flaw in order to avoid having to provide free repairs and iPhone parts to those impacted.

The list of functions which are hindered or rendered entirely unusable by touch disease is extensive, essentially including any kind of interaction which is required to be made via the display itself. What makes this problem particularly severe is that it is alleged to get worse over time, until eventually the handset will not respond to any kind of input.

Although it has been bombarded with questions by customers and the media, Apple has refused to comment further on the touch disease debacle, apart from its launch of the aforementioned repair programme last week. This will not necessarily sit well with fans of the iPhone who had been hoping for a more satisfying resolution, or at least one which will not require them to spend any money.

Anyone with a damaged iPhone can buy spare parts and use affordable third-party repair services to get it fixed rather than going through Apple’s official channels. This is especially useful when dealing with problems that are not covered by the warranty but yet still rear their heads.